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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#206: Phobias

Have you ever had that nightmare where someone is chasing you, but you can’t scream or run away? It’s a pretty common (and terrifying) bad dream, and it always makes me wonder how I’d respond in a scary moment of crisis.

Fight, flight, or freeze? You never really know what you’re going to get until you’re in that moment, staring down the object of your fear — whether that’s losing someone you love, getting stuck in an enclosed space, being surrounded by a massive crowd, or just finding a cockroach in your bathroom.

Fear is a powerful feeling to capture in writing, so this week, join me to study this lightning-bolt emotion as it illuminates the actions of your characters.

This week's prompts

Write about someone facing their greatest fear.

Dramatic – 109 stories

Write a story that contains a flashback of a nightmare.

Horror – 63 stories

Start your story with a character seeing something terrifying.

Horror – 53 stories

Write about a character in a situation where they have to be brave for someone else’s sake.

Character – 61 stories

Set your story in an eerie, surreal setting.

Dark – 87 stories

Stories

“Nightmare in Depth” by Michael Pollock

Submitted to Contest #206

It all began when I went in for float therapy. For those of you who don't know what that is allow me to summarize. I was advised by my psychiatrist to try it. It was formerly known as sensory deprivation, but I think people had a negative connotation being "deprived" of something, so they went to float therapy, even though it's the same idea. You get into your birthday suit and get into a pod filled partway with saltwater. This makes you more buoyant and allows you to relax. You have earplugs and a two-way radio (waterproof, of course) to ke...

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“The Last Imaginative Diary of Dr. Freyburg” by Zeeshan Mahmud

Submitted to Contest #206

Disclaimer: Contains themes of abuse, suicide, and physical violenceHour 1There is not a drop of ink in the room. As white as a polar bear's backyard. I am dressed in ice-cold tuxedo as well. It is madness. But I know I can breeze this like a SEAL would do BUD/S. In fact, this is vacation for me. I always craved some quiet time after my Wall Street buzz wore off from back in the days.I know plenty of food will be here. I can also do pushups. Of course, I have to get used to the light to sleep.Hour 3I am craving some information. Just had the...

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“The Dollhouse” by Zorah Starr

Submitted to Contest #206

CW: Mention of suicide, implied child abuse, mention of child death _ “After ten years, Weepingridge’s infamous ‘dollhouse’ is holding up surprisingly well…relatively speaking. Let’s hope the inside isn’t too damaged for our sake!” Ellen Goodman paused her speech to adjust her camcorder. The three-storied house sagged under the weight of its collapsing layers. The once vivid pink and white paint was faded by years of weather-related abuse. Shattered windows allowed the crisp breeze to shake the tattered remains of the inner curtains. Und...

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“Little Mouse and the Prince of Spiders” by C. J. Peters

Submitted to Contest #206

The stars in the perpetual plum sky glitter green, red, blue, and gold, and when they fall, they cut like knives. There are no paths between the bare towering trees black as pitch, only the silvery mists dense as muck, which obfuscate and disorient and lead the small beasts into blackthorn bushes tall as any man or monster.Rat-faced crawlers and crow-winged fliers, any and all snatched and ensnarled and dragged deep into the bushes bearing more thorns than fruits, for the forest must feed, too.It is easy for one to become lost in these woods...

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“After Golden Hour” by Breanna Dawn

Submitted to Contest #206

When she first began her slow walk home she was in a wonderful mood. It was her favorite time of day, just before the sun set for the day. It was breathtaking watching the golden light of the setting sun paint the countryside. She loved how it seemed to make the grass and leaves glow. Loved to watch the warm light flitting through the trees. So despite leaving her friends house later than she meant to, she found her self in no rush. As she walked she listened to the croaking frogs and the chirping of the b...

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“A Lost Friend” by David D'EttoreUser

Submitted to Contest #206

A LOST FRIEND The last time I saw Marise was in Paris during the spring of 1971. Something happened then that is still not clear in my mind, or at least what I have left of my mind. Something that, to this day, I cannot forget. Winter stayed long that year, reaching well into May, leaving mounds of dirty snow in shaded areas of the city. A chill even pervaded sunny ...

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“Emergence” by Richard Seven

Submitted to Contest #206

They came the moment day turned into night.Flits of black on black. Outlines of whooshing wings. Wafts fanned by their veering and swooping. Darkness paralyzed me and their speed and commitment awed me. I sensed them dropping from their roost below a rotting pier and zooming off to gobble as many insects as they could before daylight returned.My therapist arranged this outing to help me overcome or at least temper my dread of bats. It's called Chiroptophobia and this is a stab at immersion therapy.“They aren’t interested in you,” said Jake, ...

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“Day Turned Black” by Sara Sampson

Submitted to Contest #206

Day Turned Black The best part of Izzy's day was admiring the sun as it burst over the mountains. It would be better if she woke up refreshed enough not to doze under the streaks of purple and red stretching out over the sky. Night terrors ruined those moments for Izzy more often than she wanted to admit. The same nightmare she’d had for months left her breathless and her bones buzzing every morning. Izzy shook off the haze it left with farm chores. More potently, the stench of the slop pen and the round-bellied snorkers. The wet smack of ...

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“Bus Ride to Humiliation” by Gloria Dawn

Submitted to Contest #206

Bus Trip to Humiliation (a true story) When I was nineteen, I lived in Winnipeg and worked in an office out near the Winnipeg Airport, on the outskirts of the city. I took the city bus to work and back each day. My stop was the very last one on the bus route before the airport. At five o'clock when I got off work, I caught the bus again for my ride back uptown. I was renting a room in a boarding house, just a few blocks from the Hudson Bay's huge block-square store on Portage Avenue, right in the heart of the city. Each night, there...

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“Escaping Hell” by Audrey Brown

Submitted to Contest #206

Carol knew that she had to be brave not only for herself , but for the other women that were depending on her to get them out of the situiation. It was a warm night in August and carol had decided to go for a walk to clear her head. It was late so her mom told her to not go to far and to only stay out for a few moments. Carol bagan walking and thinking about everything that had happened that day. By the time she had stopped walking she was at least six blocks from home and it was really dark. She turned around to head towards her house. The ...

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“Nothing to Fear” by Ian Gonzales

Submitted to Contest #206

“I’m afraid of nothing.” I look up from the notebook on my desk, peering over the rims of my reading glasses at the man reclining on thefaux-leather upholstery of my couch. “You’re not afraid of anything? Anything at all? Not death or taxes? Not big crowds, heights, or even small flying rodents?” My tone is light, but not mocking. Curious, without being pushy. “I didn’t say that.” Curtis Smith (probably not his real name, but I understand that some people feel the need for anonymity) is my newest patient, a pro bono walk-in who is clearly tr...

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“Dark Epiphany” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #206

I remember being terrified. I was the most frightened I’d ever been in my life. Forget the monster under the bed. This was real. Just the thought of it now, it makes my breath catch somewhere in my chest and my heart swells, threatening to burst in my chest, seeking a complete end to everything in preference to what I am yet again confronted with. There had been a build up to this moment, of course there had. It was a culmination of all the components of a life. There was a feeling of inevitability as all the strands led to this p...

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“It's Not Real” by Dafna Flieg

Submitted to Contest #206

Dafna Fliegelman &nb...

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“Recurrence” by Angie Ashton

Submitted to Contest #206

Jackie automatically reached a hand toward her face to push her glasses back up the bridge of her nose, sure as anything that they had inched down like they always did. Except now, her hand was met by only the beads of sweat rolling down her face. She hadn’t worn glasses since her sophomore year of high school, when the combination of the coke-bottle thick, plastic rimmed eye wear and the metal gleam off her braces had made for one truly horrific yearbook picture. She lowered her hand and shook off the memories. There wer...

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“The Sight” by Rena Aliston

Submitted to Contest #206

Her body trembled as she moved toward me, left leg limping, toes dragging along the tiled floor as she struggled to remain on her feet. Blue veins ran along her cheeks and forehead as her gray eyes stalked me.I backed away, attempting to move faster as she leaned in closer. Her mouth opened. Blood pooled out as her razor sharp teeth reflected off the overhead lights. Her jaws clamped together as she leaned into my neck.I held her back. She attempted to bite me again, opening her mouth wider. Placing my hand on her forehead, I pushed her away...

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$250

Prize money

373

Contest entries

130

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jul 14, 2023 EST

Won by Parul Shah 🏆

Title: Shameless

Submissions must be between 1,000 - 3,000 words and will be approved and published on Reedsy Prompts within 7 days of the contest closing.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

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